Student workers integral part of several businesses

Luis Rodriguez, left, and Will Barefield, with Bellhops work to move a chair from the Legacy at Fort Clarke apartments on Thursday, July 24, 2014 in Gainesville, Fla. Bellhops uses college students to help people move. At getbellhops.com, users schedule a date and time they want movers to arrive, and Bellhops load or unload their belongings.

Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 28, 2014 at 10:13 p.m.

Apartment turn season is a massive undertaking in a major college town with thousands of students to move and thousands of apartments to clean in a short time.

Several businesses have built their models around mobilizing a small army of college students for the busy period from late July until school starts, then cutting back on staff and hours when students are looking for part-time work that fits their school schedules anyway.

“When they're out of class, that's when we need them, and when we need to cut back there's no hard feelings because they're looking for a different workload,” said Wade Swikle, president of the 2 College Brothers moving company.

The company, which started in 2011, has been ramping up to 18 employees for its busiest period over the next two weeks, with 75 moving jobs already scheduled this week, and probably will pare back down to 10 employees when school starts, Swikle said.

2 College Brothers has two trucks of its own and will be renting at least two more this week through an account with Penske.

Employees who want to keep working after turn season can stay on the payroll and pick their own schedule from moving jobs posted on a cloud-based calendar.

For the next month, Student Maid is hiring upward of 400 students — which includes high schoolers in the summer — to clean thousands of empty apartments. Owner Kristen Hadeed said the business will keep the best 100 workers for the rest of the year when they clean more homes, businesses and schools, as well as providing house sitting, pet sitting and dog walking services. Employees make $9 to $11 an hour.

Hadeed started the company five years ago while a student at the University of Florida because she had a hard time finding a job that was flexible with her school schedule.

Celena Letcher, 21, said Student Maid's flexible scheduling was most important to her when looking for a job. For the past year and a half, she has worked about 20 hours a week around her school and sorority functions.

While sweeping behind a refrigerator pulled out from the wall in an apartment at The Polos on Thursday, she said her friends who work at restaurants didn't get the time off that she was able to get.

“They require us to work part of our vacations, but I was able to go out of town easily where I had friends who had to work the day after Christmas and things like that, and I felt like it was nice because I was actually able to have a job but also have a life at the same time,” said Letcher, who graduated from UF in May with a degree in zoology.

Thursday was her last day on the job before moving to Key Largo to start an internship at a dolphin training institute.

Her cleaning partner on the job, 19-year-old Sierra Crosswhite, said Student Maid actually listens to scheduling requests, unlike her previous employers at a fast-food restaurant and a pet store.

Hadeed said scheduling used to be a nightmare, so she started a company with Grooveshark's Josh Greenberg to develop a software scheduling application. She said the MaidSuite app has reduced the time spent on scheduling from 14 to 16 hours a week to less than 10 minutes. It also is being used by other cleaning companies and a nanny agency.

Auburn, Alabama-based Bellhops started offering its service in Gainesville last year and now has 153 UF students signed up to provide moving labor. The “captain” on each job makes $15 an hour, and the “wingman” makes $13.

The company has no trucks of its own but hires out college students who work as independent contractors to load and unload trucks that the client leases, or the movers can pick up and drop off moving trucks through the company's accounts with U-Haul and Penske.

Chief Operating Officer Matt Patterson said traditional moving companies are constrained from taking jobs by the number of trucks they own, while Bellhops can easily respond to the demand.

The company started in 2011 to serve the mass moving needs of college students and has expanded to 135 cities with more than 8,500 students.

Moving jobs are posted to an online jobs board that students can choose on a first-come, first-served basis.

Patterson said Bellhops has noticed a pattern in that 20 percent of the workers will pick up 80 percent of the jobs.

“I just think that's the truth of anything. When you have a pool of 100 people, you see 20 people rise to the opportunity and just do all of the work,” he said.

The student-staffed businesses say there are benefits to hiring college students beyond fitting flexible hours to the workloads.

Swikle of 2 College Brothers said students are good problem solvers who can think on their feet and know how to talk to customers, who are often college students themselves. He said he doesn't have to worry about them throwing out their backs, as he would with an older worker.

The company's website says it hires “only strong, clean-cut college guys” as movers.

Swikle said customers feel comfortable letting them into their homes.

Bellhops builds trust with customers by sending them a photo and profile of their movers and requiring the captain to communicate with customers twice before coming to their home.

Hadeed said Student Maid goes through an intense screening process to find people with an attitude of service and who can self-manage since they don't have a boss over their shoulder on the job.

She said she doesn't think hiring college students is taking away jobs that would normally go to traditional blue-collar laborers because there is so much work to go around.

“We have great relationships with our competitors. We refer business to each other,” she said.

<p>Apartment turn season is a massive undertaking in a major college town with thousands of students to move and thousands of apartments to clean in a short time.</p><p>Several businesses have built their models around mobilizing a small army of college students for the busy period from late July until school starts, then cutting back on staff and hours when students are looking for part-time work that fits their school schedules anyway.</p><p>“When they're out of class, that's when we need them, and when we need to cut back there's no hard feelings because they're looking for a different workload,” said Wade Swikle, president of the 2 College Brothers moving company.</p><p>The company, which started in 2011, has been ramping up to 18 employees for its busiest period over the next two weeks, with 75 moving jobs already scheduled this week, and probably will pare back down to 10 employees when school starts, Swikle said.</p><p>2 College Brothers has two trucks of its own and will be renting at least two more this week through an account with Penske.</p><p>Employees who want to keep working after turn season can stay on the payroll and pick their own schedule from moving jobs posted on a cloud-based calendar.</p><p>For the next month, Student Maid is hiring upward of 400 students — which includes high schoolers in the summer — to clean thousands of empty apartments. Owner Kristen Hadeed said the business will keep the best 100 workers for the rest of the year when they clean more homes, businesses and schools, as well as providing house sitting, pet sitting and dog walking services. Employees make $9 to $11 an hour.</p><p>Hadeed started the company five years ago while a student at the University of Florida because she had a hard time finding a job that was flexible with her school schedule.</p><p>Celena Letcher, 21, said Student Maid's flexible scheduling was most important to her when looking for a job. For the past year and a half, she has worked about 20 hours a week around her school and sorority functions.</p><p>While sweeping behind a refrigerator pulled out from the wall in an apartment at The Polos on Thursday, she said her friends who work at restaurants didn't get the time off that she was able to get.</p><p>“They require us to work part of our vacations, but I was able to go out of town easily where I had friends who had to work the day after Christmas and things like that, and I felt like it was nice because I was actually able to have a job but also have a life at the same time,” said Letcher, who graduated from UF in May with a degree in zoology.</p><p>Thursday was her last day on the job before moving to Key Largo to start an internship at a dolphin training institute.</p><p>Her cleaning partner on the job, 19-year-old Sierra Crosswhite, said Student Maid actually listens to scheduling requests, unlike her previous employers at a fast-food restaurant and a pet store.</p><p>Hadeed said scheduling used to be a nightmare, so she started a company with Grooveshark's Josh Greenberg to develop a software scheduling application. She said the MaidSuite app has reduced the time spent on scheduling from 14 to 16 hours a week to less than 10 minutes. It also is being used by other cleaning companies and a nanny agency.</p><p>Auburn, Alabama-based Bellhops started offering its service in Gainesville last year and now has 153 UF students signed up to provide moving labor. The “captain” on each job makes $15 an hour, and the “wingman” makes $13.</p><p>The company has no trucks of its own but hires out college students who work as independent contractors to load and unload trucks that the client leases, or the movers can pick up and drop off moving trucks through the company's accounts with U-Haul and Penske.</p><p>Chief Operating Officer Matt Patterson said traditional moving companies are constrained from taking jobs by the number of trucks they own, while Bellhops can easily respond to the demand.</p><p>The company started in 2011 to serve the mass moving needs of college students and has expanded to 135 cities with more than 8,500 students.</p><p>Moving jobs are posted to an online jobs board that students can choose on a first-come, first-served basis.</p><p>Patterson said Bellhops has noticed a pattern in that 20 percent of the workers will pick up 80 percent of the jobs.</p><p>“I just think that's the truth of anything. When you have a pool of 100 people, you see 20 people rise to the opportunity and just do all of the work,” he said.</p><p>The student-staffed businesses say there are benefits to hiring college students beyond fitting flexible hours to the workloads.</p><p>Swikle of 2 College Brothers said students are good problem solvers who can think on their feet and know how to talk to customers, who are often college students themselves. He said he doesn't have to worry about them throwing out their backs, as he would with an older worker.</p><p>The company's website says it hires “only strong, clean-cut college guys” as movers.</p><p>Swikle said customers feel comfortable letting them into their homes.</p><p>Bellhops builds trust with customers by sending them a photo and profile of their movers and requiring the captain to communicate with customers twice before coming to their home.</p><p>Hadeed said Student Maid goes through an intense screening process to find people with an attitude of service and who can self-manage since they don't have a boss over their shoulder on the job.</p><p>She said she doesn't think hiring college students is taking away jobs that would normally go to traditional blue-collar laborers because there is so much work to go around.</p><p>“We have great relationships with our competitors. We refer business to each other,” she said.</p>